Announcements
At the December meeting of the Board of Governors, Chairman Dave
Jacobs, Treasurer Jim Davis, and Secretary Margaret Maguire were
reelected for the usual one year terms. The board praised their
dedication and hard work and assured them of their continued support.
Treasurer Davis reported there was a comfortable surplus in our bank
account. Among the ideas discussed was the possibility of organizing a
one day field trip to a Revolutionary site in New York's vicinity.
Interested members should contact Jim Davis.
This would seem to be the proper place to announce that Arthur
Lefkowitz's book, The Long Retreat, has won the Round
Table's annual prize for the best book on the Revolution published in
the year 1998. Notifying the winner, Chairman Dave Jacobs wrote:
``The Long Retreat was chosen from among several nominees
for its originality of subject matter, thoroughness of research,
readability, style and general attractiveness, and for its
contribution to our understanding of the American Revolution.
Tom Fleming has been on the road, talking about the American
Revolution in Washington, D.C. and in Trenton, New Jersey. In
Washington D.C. on November 6, he was the guest of the Society of the
Cincinnati at the opening of their exhibit, New York in the
Revolution, in Anderson House, the Cincinnati's national headquarters.
The exhibit, which will be on display until April 29, is a fascinating
collection of portraits, paintings and other historical objects, such
as the field epaulets and sword knot of Alexander Hamilton and Sir
Henry Clinton's personally annotated copy of Charles Stedman's
History of the Origin, Progress and Termination of the American
War. In his talk, Tom called the exhibit an almost perfect
blend of the local and national aspects of New York's role in the
struggle for independence.
On Dec. 6, Tom was the featured speaker at the reopening of the Old
Barracks Museum in Trenton, after a 6.5 million dollar restoration.
The gleaming new buildings are full of special exhibits, featuring
taped lectures on the major players in the battle of Trenton and other
revolutionary events in the Garden State. In the Interactive History
Lab you can become an archaeologist and learn about the Barracks from
the joists up. In the Officers' House and the Barracks Rooms, you
meet well prepared, historically costumed performers who will tell
you what it felt like to be at the Battle of Trenton, or meet a doctor
who will prepare you for an inoculation against smallpox. Tom
congratulated Director Richard Patterson and others responsible for
the restoration. He said that it was an historical miracle that again
made the Battle of Trenton the pride of New Jersey, and New Jersey's
devotion to the Revolution the pride of America.
For those who read our last newsletter, where Tom Fleming counseled
caution of the supposed genetic proof that Thomas Jefferson fathered a
child or children by his mulatto slave, Sally Hemings, recent
developments have a heightened interest. Nature
magazine, which published the original article proclaiming the genetic
study proved Jefferson was guilty, has published a retraction by the
author of the study, Dr. Eugene A. Foster in which he somewhat lamely
protested that he never said he proved anything and blamed the
magazine for the media firestorm on election eve in November.
Round Tabler Willard Sterne Randall, author of a much praised
biography of Jefferson, has been in the thick of the fray, arguing
that the study not only proves nothing, but omits mentioning that
there were 25 Jefferson relatives within 20 miles of Monticello, all
of whom had the same Y chromosome that appears in the descendants of
Sally's son, Eston Hemings. Randall scoffs at the idea of the
harassed, ailing 65 year old President fathering Eston, five years
after Jefferson was accused of being Sally's lover by the muckraking
journalist James Thomson Callender. Not even William Jefferson
Clinton would have had the chutzpah to do such a thing, Randall
argues.
Randall has been on C-Span, the McLaughlin Report and the Today Show,
often debating Annette Gordon-Reed, author of Thomas Jefferson
and Sally Hemings, An American Controversy. When she spoke to
the Round Table about her view of the contretemps, Ms. Gordon-Reed
said she was undecided. But she now finds the genetic evidence
convincing and on the Today Show flatly said she believed Jefferson
was the father of all of Sally's children.
As we went to press, Willard Sterne Randall reported that he was
talking to 60 Minutes about a possible show. So watch your newspapers
-- and this newsletter -- for further bulletins.
The Round Table wants to go public with its thanks to tow former
chairmen, Ed Mills and Bill Fitzpatrick, who have donated a plethora
of wonderful books from their libraries to auctioned off at future
meetings. Bring a full wallet or a handy check for the next year or
so. There are bargains galore in these generous gifts that will have
Round Tablers all but drooling at the thought of displaying such books
on their shelves. The first six will go on sale at our February
meeting.
The Mount Vernon Show -- a Review
As one enters the New York Historical Society's exhibition,
``Treasures From Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed,'' it is
evident that the Society's tall stately rooms are the perfect setting
for this magnificent presentation. Visiting on a weekday afternoon,
one enjoys the ability to view the artifacts in a quite uncrowded
atmosphere.
What wonderful items to behold! People first see Washington's life
mask backed by his false teeth, and then are treated to a 15 minute
History Channel presentation of Washington's life. Throughout the
exhibit are the video thoughts of Presidents Bush and Clinton,
historian Don Higginbotham, and actor Barry Bostwick, who portrayed
Gen. Washington on the TV miniseries based on James Thomas Flexner's
biography.
The rooms contain portraits by Stuart and the Peales; the two surviving
letters of George to Martha; ceremonial swords; a reproduction of
Washington's Valley Forge tent complete with his original camp trunk
and eating utensils; the key to the Bastille given him by Lafayette;
furniture, silverware, plantation ledgers, and artistic examples of
how he was viewed almost as a deity after his death. But most
importantly, one gets a sense of how central Mount Vernon was to his
life and development as a soldier and politician.
The exhibition's highlight is its last item: a one inch to one foot
scale model of Mount Vernon, complete with furniture, paintings,
dinnerware, and movable outer walls. It is close second to Queen
Mary's dollhouse at Windsor, and alone is worth the $5.00 admission
fee.
The second floor's exhibit of manuscripts contains books owned by
Washington, letters written to Anthony Wayne, Benedict Arnold and
Robert R. Livingston and a Gilbert Stuart painting of the Great Man
once owned by James Madison.
There's a superb gift shop with Washington books and Mount Vernon
reproductions. The exhibition runs through February 22nd. Maybe I'll
see you there. I'm going back!
Coin Revolution
What's on the reverse of a quarter? An eagle? Not any more!
Beginning in January, and coinciding with the 225th anniversary of the
American Revolution, the U.S. Mint will issue 5 new quarters annually
over the next ten years. Each coin will contain a reverse
commemorating a state in its order of admittance into the Union. Thus
the first five will include Delaware with Caesar Rodney, and New Jersey
with Washington ferrying to Trenton. Happily, the obverse will still
contain our first President. The mint will eventually offer a
collection program for proof and uncirculated sets; in the meantime,
look over your pocket change!
The December answers, as supplied by winner Peter Ford:
- The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773.
- The tea was shipped by the East India Company.
- Gov. Thomas Hutchinson's two sons were consignees for the tea.
Hutchinson was a shareholder in the East India Company.
- The Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawks.
- The three ships were the Dartmouth, Eleanor and Beaver, which
were tied up at Griffin's Wharf.
- 142 crates were emptied into the harbor.
- The tea is manufactured today as ``Boston Harbour Tea'' by
Davison, Newman & Co., London's oldest tea merchants.
- The other tea parties were held in Philadelphia, Charleston and
New York City.
In honor of Presidents' Day, we present the presidential quiz:
- What do Independence Hall and William Fitzhugh's home ``Chatham,''
in Fredericksburg, Va. have in common with Washington and Lincoln?
- My first name is Thomas, I was born in Virginia and have served as
President. Who am I? (Be careful, more than one person may be
speaking.)
- Although Virginia was the center of the Civil War in the east, no
battles were fought at Mount Vernon. Why not?
- What do Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin have in common?
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